You'd think "healthy foods" and "cookie dough" were mutually exclusive categories, but a new Cleveland-based snack bar company is defying those odds.
Whoa Dough, which hit the market a few weeks ago, offers a guilt-free and surprisingly nutritious snack experience. The company is selling
five cookie dough bars, all made from simple ingredients and categorized with buzzwords like non-gmo, plant-based and gluten-free.
Todd Goldstein, who has owned and operated business incubator LaunchHouse since 2008, founded the Cleveland-based snack bar company in 2017. A self-diagnosed Celiac for years, Goldstein wanted to provide his young kids, also gluten-free, with a healthy and nutritious snack that would also taste good.
A year and a half later, that product is on the market.
“We’re excited — it’s a Cleveland brand and we think we can really put Cleveland on the map," marketing director Michael Rajka tells Scene.
The ingredients really are simple: almonds, almond butter, honey, chocolate chips, and a handful of health food staples on the order of "arrowroot powder." Bars come in five flavors: sugar cookie dough, peanut butter cookie dough, chocolate chip cookie dough, sprinkle sugar cookie dough and peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough.
Each snack bar contains 7 grams of protein, 3-4 grams of fiber and 7-9 grams of sugar. While the snacks don't qualify as vegan and do contain nuts, all are non-gmo, egg-free, grain-free, soy-free and, of course, gluten-free.
Whoa Dough bars, which do in fact taste healthy and are similar to a protein bar, can be found at Muvel Healthy Food Society in Chagrin Falls and at Miles Farmers Market in Solon. Goldstein has also cut a deal with Heinen’s grocery stores, which will stock the bars on their shelves come September.
The product is also on Amazon.com, where bars come individually wrapped in boxes of 10 for $26; and on the national market, with interest from sellers in Colorado, Texas and California.
According to Rajka, Goldstein's kids love the final product. “Demo-ing and sampling, they were enjoying them," he says. "We found that a lot of kids really enjoy the bars."
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